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Views from USS

Latest insights and commentary on current and emerging pension topics written by staff at USS and USS Investment Management Ltd

  • Developing our investment capability in developed markets

    USSIM, USS’s in-house investment manager, is committed to ensuring it develops the investment capabilities required to deliver a portfolio that meets the long-term financial needs of USS’s members.

  • Our commitment to stewardship

    Stewardship is allocating and overseeing capital to create long term value for beneficiaries which leads to wider economic, environmental and societal benefits.

  • Commenting on our investments

    There are times when there is a lot of interest in our investments – but commenting on individual assets, or on speculation about potential deals, isn’t always wise.

  • USS is a Universal Owner – but what does that mean?

    Universal Ownership is the concept that institutional investors (like major pension funds) hold such large, diversified portfolios that they represent a slice of the entire market or economy. Essentially, they own a little bit of everything. Find out what this means for USS.

  • The arc of the covenant

    When taking investment risk to fund the pensions promised to members, we are relying on the scheme’s sponsors – its participating employers – to effectively underwrite that risk.

  • Innovating our DC offering for our members

    Building a truly innovative DC product is a vital part of our goal to give members the best possible investment options and access to forward-thinking investment strategies that’ll positively impact the final value of their DC savings when they come to take them. Read about our recent areas of DC innovation from an investment perspective.

  • Responsible investment: our approach and our legal obligations as a pension fund

    In light of the horrific events that have been unfolding over recent weeks in the Middle East, we know that members and employers may have questions about our investments. Simon Pilcher, Chief Executive of USS Investment Management, sets out our approach to investing responsibly and in the best financial interests of the scheme’s members and beneficiaries, in line with our legal duties.

  • Putting a fair price on our private market investments

    Unlike publicly listed assets, where values are obtained from quoted traded prices, private assets are valued by experts using a range of different data points and techniques to form a view of fair value.

  • Improving climate analysis with the University of Exeter

    Climate scenario analysis is a vital tool to help us assess the financial risks we face as investors under various future climate outcomes. We’ve worked with the University of Exeter to develop four new climate scenarios that are more useful for our investment decision-making.

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